Ball-Eater
aboard the Ball-Eater|artist=@BuckMoonArt |source=https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/ak4iz0/spoilers_c2e48_returning_home_oc/}}]] The Ball-Eater is a ship owned by the Mighty Nein, currently being captained by Orly Skiffback. Fjord captained the Ball-Eater during the Mighty Nein's time at sea. It was formerly captained by Avantika as the Squall-Eater and aligned with The Revelry before Avantika's death. Plank King Wyatt Marinos determined that the Mighty Nein would take the ship and leave Darktow Isle permanently. Appearance The Ball-Eater is a massive, tri-masted ship with a cargo hold, an outer balcony and a gun deck. It is armed with large heavy cannons and has many gunports. It has two rowboats, rope ladders and a captain’s quarters below deck. Captain’s quarters The captain’s quarters is a beautiful open room that is solidly made with a balcony in the back, with scuff marks on the floorboard. It has a mismatched patchwork of old carpets laid over each other from various designs around Exandria. There's a desk that has a bunch of carve marks into it where papers can be laid out and a shelf with a small lantern on it. Above the door is a small shelf with a tine black iron shrine to Uk'otoa. It is of an ouroboros serpent that's eating its own tail. About every inch there's an eye across the length of its body. In the center is a single metal sphere with a cloven line down the center of it. Crew 'As The Squall-Eater' The Squall-Eater was manned with a large crew. As pirates, the crew were heavily armed with shortswords, longswords and cutlasses. Most were also armed with a flintlock rifle and/or pistol. During their confrontation with the Mighty Nein at Darktow they resorted to using heavy crossbows. * Captain Avantika: Deceased. * Quartermaster Vera: Fate unknown, presumed alive, arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Bark: Fate unknown, either deceased or arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Bouldergut: Arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Jamedi Cosko: Adventurer for hire, after fulfilling his contract and collecting payment he parted ways with the crew. * Fiskin Duth: Deceased. * Second Mate Ipess: Arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Deckhand Waldark: Fate unknown, either deceased or arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Jeremiah Willowhisk: Arrested and in The Revelry's custody. * Zoen: Fate unknown, either deceased or arrested and in The Revelry's custody. 'As The Ball-Eater' 'Current Crew' The crew comprises of hired sailors and one former pirate. The crew are largely noncombatants. * Marius LePual * Orly Skiffback * Gallan Westman 'Former Crew' The crew consisted of the adventuring party known as the Mighty Nein as well as several hired sailors. Overall the crew was generally lightly armed but counted multiple spellcasters amongst its ranks. Under Fjord's captaincy the ship was renamed the Ball-Eater. * The Mighty Nein: Decided to transfer written ownership of the Ball-Eater to Orly Skiffback, and leave the ship in search of new adventures. ** First Mate/Cooper Beauregard ** Boatswain Caduceus Clay ** Captain/Quartermaster Fjord ** Carpenter Jester Lavorre ** Powder monkey Nott ** Yasha Nydoorin ** Navigator Caleb Widogast *'Twiggy:' Presumed alive. Snuck aboard in Darktow, lived in the cargo hold until discovered, and parted ways amicably with the Mighty Nein upon arriving in Biasaft. 'Resources' 'Weapons' The Ball Eater has four cannons on the port side and three functional cannons on the starboard side, for a total of seven. History Avantika's Captaincy Under the captaincy of Avantika the Squall-Eater flew a flag bearing a design featuring the Cloven Crystal. As a ship aligned to The Revelry it also had a flag of plain purple bearing an unusual sheen that the crew hoisted when wishing to approach Darktow Isle. By the time the Mighty Nein arrived in Nicodranas, the Squall-Eater already had a reputation as a pirate ship. Marius LePual mentions it to Fjord , and Gallan Westman, the carpenter on the captured ''Mist'', tells them the Mist is a sister ship to it. The Squall-Eater was waiting at the island of Urukaxl for Captain Jawgrasp on The Mist to deliver a Cloven Crystal. Upon the sight of The Mist at Urukaxl they fired a warning shot at The Mist and send two rowboats with a gentleman, a Vera and Bouldergut towards the ship. The rowboats boarded The Mist and demanded that the captain joined them on the Squall Eater. The Captain took part of his crew (Tracy, Phillip, Sapphire, Cornelius, Janet, and Gilligan) with him and left Bouldergut on board with the rest of the crew and rowed to the ship to parlay with Captain Avantika. During the parlay, Captain Avantika discovered that the captain and his crew was not who they said they were, and they were revealed to be the Mighty Nein. She offered Captain Fjord a deal, the Mighty Nein could live under her crew and prove themselves as both skilled and as trustworthy as she hopes them to be, if their goals are indeed aligned. Perhaps even join them, if their deeds please her. Or two, she weighs their corpses down with rocks and leave them there amongst the reef. They accept the first option and joined the crew. After being led down to the captain’s quarter Beau sees two plain-bound books on a shelf as Avantika tells the story of Uk'otoa. Avantika discovers that Fjord has dreams about the leviathan and tells them to stay the night onboard waiting for Jamedi Cosko to arrive. At night Nott sneaks out of her room to the cargo hold below. She investigated a few crates, one is filled with hardtack and a second one is filled with small kegs of gunpowder, a third crate has a lot of repair materials, another crate has lots of foods inside. Nott steals a keg of gunpowder and fermented fruit and escape back to her sleeping quarters as Avantika ask Fjord to join her for the night. The next day the crew is joined by Jamedi he tells the party about the island of Urukaxl. Avantika, Jamedi Cosko, and the Mighty Nein disembark the ship and go to the island. The Squall-Eater waited by the island of Urukaxl while Avantika, Jamedi Cosko, and the Mighty Nein journeyed inland to find a temple of Uk'otoa. Avantika, Jamedi Cosko, and the Mighty Nein escaped both Lizardfolk and yuan-ti pursuing them through the jungle of Urukaxl. The Squall-Eater covered their escape by firing cannons at the beach while they rowed back to the ship. The Squall-Eater and The Mist together sailed to Darktow Isle. While on their way, the Mighty Nein choose ship's jobs to learn, Caleb navigation, Nott powder monkey, Fjord quartermaster, Jester carpenter, Caduceus boatswain and Beau cooper. They intercepted and looted a Clovis Concord ship called The Stormcap. The captain agrees to talk, and they demand food and water, gems, and free access below decks to see if there's anything interesting. In return, Caduceus will heal their crew. The captain agrees, and they board. They find a hidden small chest containing quite a bit of coin and a beautiful wooden box with Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments. Upon obtaining the box Nott hides it, and they all scurry back. Continuing their journey to Darktow, Fjord has another dream from Uk'otoa. When Fjord keeps Avantika busy on Darktow Isle, Jester Dimension Doors her and Nott to Avantika's quarters to search it. Hearing footsteps, they escape through a self-made hole the floor and find themselves in a sleeping crewman's quarters. Nott puts jewels in bed with him, and they dive under the bed. A crewman falls through the hole into the room with them, waking the sleeper, who stabs him. They apologize to each other and go off to find a surgeon. Jester lifts Nott up to look through the hole in the ceiling into Avantika's room, and the gas there hits her. She messages Beau to create a distraction, and Caleb starts singing and acting drunk. She complains to the guards about him to distract them. Nott and Jester disguise themselves as Keg and Molly. As they reach deck, Nott casts Phantasmal Force on the crewman in the crow's nest, making him think it's on fire. Nott and Jester jump overboard as the crewman leaps from the crow's nest, breaking a leg and screaming, creating an uproar on deck. Nott and Jester make it safely to shore and stroll away to the tavern, joined shortly by Caleb and Beau. The next morning everyone is brought aboard, joining the crews of the Squall-Eater and the Mistake. Avantika tells everyone there's been a break-in of her chamber, and she questions several crewmen. Just as Vera casts Locate Object, Caleb takes a bit of phosphorus, squelches it through his hand, and casts Wall of Fire across the entire length of the boat. Caleb conjured a Wall of Fire followed by a Fireball, causing severe damage to the Squall-Eater dring the battle between the Mighty Nein and Avantika's crew. The Plank King's guards arrested everyone involved in the battle. At the trial, The Plank King ruled the Squall-Eater would now belong to the Mighty Nein. Avantika was executed, and the rest of her crew stayed under arrest on Darktow Isle. Captain Tusktooth's Captaincy The Mighty Nein were allowed to bring their hired crew from The Mistake to their new ship. They left immediately. The crew under Fjord ("Captain Tusktooth') was unable to fly any flags due to them being burned upon their banishment from Darktow Isle. The Squall-Eater sailed to the Diver's Grave. The ship waited while the Mighty Nein dove underwater to search for a Cloven Crystal. The Mighty Nein returned to the Squall-Eater after finding the Cloven Crystal. The ship barely outran a storm magically summoned by Dashilla the Dreadful. As the Mighty Nein set sail for Bisaft Isle, they realized the ship is known to the Clovis Concord as a pirate ship. Nott came up with the new name Ball-Eater. Twiggy painted the new name onto the ship. The Ball-Eater continued sailing to Bisaft after the Mighty Nein (minus Yasha, plus Twiggy) were teleported away by the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks and gone for seven days. The Ball-Eater got repaired while waiting for them to return. The Ball-Eater set sail for the Gravid Archipelago. The ship waited while the Mighty Nein dove underwater to find another temple of Uk'otoa. After the Mighty Nein returned to the ship at the Gravid Archipelago they were suddenly ambushed and pursued by the Salty Criss. During the chase the Ball-Eater struck some jagged rocks and took minor hull damage though ultimately the Ball-Eater and its crew destroyed the pursuing ship when Caduceus capsized it using Control Water. After rescuing Captain Feng and her surviving crew, the Mighty Nein marooned them on a nearby island of the Archipelago at Feng's request. The Mighty Nein decide to return to the Dwendalian Empire by way of Nicodranas. As they approach the city, Jester forges a new registry for the ship and Fjord gifts ownership of the Ball-Eater to their navigator, Orly Skiffback, who promised to take good care of the ship. Orly still considered the Ball-Eater to very much be the Nein's ship, and Fjord its captain. Orly has stated he plans to use the ship to earn money for himself and its crew and that he'll set aside a percentage of the earnings to give to the Mighty Nein when they next visit. The Ball-Eater docked in Nicodranas. Fjord officially turned over command to Orly Skiffback. Orly's Captaincy The Ball-Eater's acting captain aims to turn the ship's use to more legitimate trade rather than illicit piracy. In just a few months, the crew does enough business along the Menagerie Coast that the Mighty Nein's split of the earnings is 1,312 gold. References Art: Category:Ships